Henshaw's Charlottesville attorney, Norman Lamson, argued that the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries had no jurisidiction to arrest Henshaw because state code does not list hogs as one of the seven wild animals that fall under Department dominion. Buckingham County judge Bobby Woodson will consider the motion to quash and issue a decision February 16.

Less successful was Henshaw's argument that his boar preserve, Willis River Hunting, was a private club. The judge disagreed and convicted him on the Class 2 misdemeanor charge of operating a hunting enclosure without a license.